If you develop a concept sketch that is too detailed, the idea may seem complete before it has been fully explored. The thumbnail sketch solves this problem by having you sketch each possibility as a small image that you can quickly sketch or redraw. Instead of focusing on one placement of platform, doors, flats and furnishings, you compare various possibilities while you explore the scenic possibilities.
Take a page and divide it into six or eight small rectangles. Each rectangle is an individual stage frame. Don’t worry about the image, just a general representation in dark, light and line for some depth. A doorway may be a tall block, a platform may be a low horizontal shape, and a performer can be shown as a small figure. Don’t bother with detail. Leave out texture; draw rough perspective and set dressing.
In the same basic scene, alter one major decision in the sketch. Shift the visual emphasis. Move the focal point from the center of the stage frame to the side. Add more empty space around an image or character. Make one scenic element high and the next low or close and far in the space. Draw a symmetrical stage picture, then try an asymmetrical one. By varying these elements of your composition, you’ll discover a better balance of scale, silhouette and focus of interest in your design, based on the clues from the script.
Novice artists make six almost the same thumbnail sketch by concentrating on the minor parts. To do this, ask one question with each sketch. What happens if the doorway becomes a more important picture element? If the stage platform is in the middle separating two figures? If most of the scenery is placed upstage? If one large shape replaces several smaller objects? You need to see major changes to be useful as comparisons.
After completing the page, place it at arm’s length and look at the sketches without reading any notes. You can see which image is most interesting and has the clearest focal point. Which one is too crowded, too empty, too low? Draw the stage direction or movement of the performers. Are they able to enter, pass, pause, be seen? A beautiful picture has no value if you leave out any usable stage floor space.
Pick two strong images, and don’t make your final design. You are simply drawing again, just a bit larger and adding the basic notes about depth, entry, height, relationship, and so forth. One of the images should be stronger not because it is more decorative, but because you can begin to see the action or drama and the feeling of atmosphere supported by the scenic picture elements.